When God Got Real

Andrew Ancona is a Connecticut native raised in the Episcopal Church. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he discerned his call to the priesthood through campus ministry, and received a B.A. in Architecture in 2016. Father Andrew completed his studies for ministry at Berkeley Divinity School, Yale University and Cambridge University, UK. His areas of interest include Liturgical Studies, Gregorian Chant and Sacred Music, the work of Christian formation and hospitality, as well as Architecture, Sacred Space, and the Divine in the builtenvironment. In his free time, Fr Andrew enjoys walking and eating his way around New York City with his Siberian husky Nord, drawing and painting, winemaking, cooking, and vacationing with family.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director lives in Charlotte, NC where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, a Futurist by trade, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God. Her current favorites include the movie Hamnet, the Avett Brothers, and a countertopice cream maker she got as a Christmas gift. Her current favorite joke is: What do you call a book club that only reads one book? ……Church!www.whengodgotreal.com

Aimée Bostwick is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and guide. She holds a Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation from Seminary of the Southwest and is ordained through the Order of Hildegard, grounding her work in an interspiritual, earth-honoring theology.With nearly thirty years of experience in spiritual formation, her work weaves together contemplative practice, embodied spirituality, and a deep relationship with the natural world. Specializing in forest bathing, slow contemplative walking, poetry, silence, and embodied practices, Aimée invites individuals and communities into experiences of being deeply seen—by themselves, by one another, and by the sacred.Aimée currently serves as Senior Advisor for Program Innovation at Kanuga Conference, Retreat & Camp Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, a place that has shaped her spiritually since childhood and continues to inform her understanding of “thin places”—where the veil between the human and the holy feels especially close.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

Deborah Warner, this week’s guest facilitator, grew up in New York City. She studied at Union Theological Seminary receiving a Master of Divinity degree with Psychiatry and Religion as her area of concentration. After completing a chaplaincy residency at in the neonatal unit at New York Hospital and working on a medical floor at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, she became one of the first generation of women ordained as priest in the Episcopal Church. Most of her 40-year tenure was lived out in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts primarily as the rector of two separate parishes.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

Tamara Franks is a wanderer, sojourner and courageous soul who loves to experience each day fully. She isn’t prone to chit chat; instead, on a moment’s notice, will invite anyone into deep, thoughtful conversation. Wilderness Guide, College Lecturer, and Pastor, she loves to explore diverse lands, listen to the trees, the wind and people’s hearts, cook both simple and elegant meals, and laugh with her whole being.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

Mandy Monath, a North Carolina native, is the author of This Is Like That: Poems and Process, a collection of poems accompanied by observations on creativity and poetic craft. She is interested in what makes a poem a poem. In other genres, her recent children’s book, How Counting Came to Be, tells the story of a cave girl who thinks too much. Her essays have appeared in Christian Science Monitor and The Wall Street Journal. Mandy earned her B.A. from Salem College in Classics and her M.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill in Comparative Literature. She lampooned that experience in her romantic comedy, Manifestations of Idiosyncrasy in the Actualization of the Potential Work.Keith Walker, the author of All That Names Us (Saddle Road Press, 2024), offers this review of Mandy’s work, This Is Like That: Poems and Process.  “So much of what I read these days feels like sophisticated word play without soul.  In these poems I feel the poet’s sensitivity, her open heart receiving the world and her discerning mind carefully turning it over and over to understand the underlying dimensions of what she sees and feels. It’s very powerful and very spiritual.  I really admire these beautiful, resonant poems and will keep reading them and letting them speak to me.”Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

The Rev. Deacon Valerie Davis shares her story of finding in an ever-present God, in the grief of losing her mother too soon.Valerie, a cradle Episcopalian, ordained a Deacon, serves in the Diocese of North Carolina. She is a member of the Diocesan Council for Outreach & Justice, is the Co-chair for the Clergy of Color and a facilitator for the diocese’s introductory course on Dismantling Racism. She is currently assigned to St. Martin’s in Charlotte, NC where she is beginning a ministry for homeless and displaced persons. Valerie considers herself to be a lifelong learner, who enjoys reading, water activities, traveling abroad, and the many adventures of meeting and sharing the good news of the Gospel domestically and internationally.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

Sometimes God is found not in crises, but in crises that are averted.Sue Bartlett currently lives in Davidson, North Carolina. She has had many wonderful opportunities in her life - to live in different parts of the country, to travel, to find meaningful work as a nurse, a chef, an artist, and a poet. She has been a granddaughter, daughter, wife, and mother, but her greatest joy is being a grandmother. God has been very, very good to her in all the spaces of her life. And she is grateful! Current project: Sue is working on a collection of poetry exploring the wonders of prayer. It is entitled “When Thought Becomes Prayer”.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC, where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

What happens when you know the culture, follow the rules, make a life plan, assume the good outcome and it all stops… working?Matt Addington is an Episcopal Priest, serving a parish, and is a husband and dad of 2 daughters. Matt feels deeply called to finding the nooks and crannies of life where God is already working in the world through others, and helping the same people understand how they can make a difference in the world by simply being themselves. Matt often ends his day with more questions than when he started, and is excitedlyexploring what aspect of personal ministry God has for him in the future. There are so many possibilities because there are so many opportunities.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

What happens when you’re “Religious but not Spiritual” and someone you are supposed to protect is in danger, and your commitment and care can’t guarantee a safe outcome?Beth Hunt, who spent 33 years as a business journalist, left that career behind to pursue something a little closer to God. She earned a master’s degree in peace and conflict resolution, and now spends her time helping individuals, families, organizations, and churches communicatemore gently, navigate conflict with grace, and rebuild trust in a world often marked by anger and division. She’s wife to Brian, a mathematician and professor, and mom to Shannon, a college student. They were all rescued by Bella, a boxer-pit bull mix.Sarah Hollar, an Episcopal Priest and Spiritual Director, lives in Charlotte, NC where she serves a parish, tends relationships with her husband, two children, two stepchildren, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and her wise aging mother. She also has a good number of friends. Deeply curious about the complexity of the human experience and how God is present in that complexity, she invites you to join her as all sorts of folk share their memorable encounters with God.www.whengodgotreal.com

We all have moments when faith moves from idea to experience—when God becomes real in a way that changes everything.On the When God Got Real podcast, real people share their personal stories of encountering the divine, followed by a conversation with host Sarah Hollar exploring how that encounter continues to shape their lives, relationships, and place in the world.www.whengodgotreal.com